He first sent Hipponikos with one thousand mercenaries to Eretria. That force crushed the exiled democrats’ fort at Porthmos and secured in power Kleitarchos, Automedon, and Hipparchos, men who recently had overthrown the Eretrian democracy. Later—exactly how much later is unknown—Philip ordered two additional invasions into Eretria in order to assist that puppet regime’s efforts to quash a serious insurgency. It is likely in conjunction with the final (i.e., the third) intervention in Eretria that Philip’s mercenary forces, led this time by Parmenion, stormed the northern Euboian city of Oreos and secured in power five men (Philistides, Menippos, Sokrates, Thoas, and Agapaios) who had recently overthrown the democracy in their city. Thus, by the fall of 342, Philip’s partisans controlled two of Euboia’s four major cities.1 Philip’s gains in Euboia directly threatened Athenian security. Demosthenes, in his speech On the Chersonese (delivered in early 341), concluded that Philip invaded that island in order to establish bases (epiteichismata) from which he would attack both Attika and the island of Skiathos (36).
